Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the benefit cap on single parent households with dependent children in Scotland.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The table below shows the number of households in Scotland that have had their Housing Benefit or Universal Credit capped between the introduction of cap and May 2019 (‘cumulative caseload’), and latest capped caseload in May 2019 (‘point in time caseload’), for all capped households and lone parents.
Benefit cap caseload in Scotland | Housing Benefit | Universal Credit | ||
Total | Lone parents | Total | Lone parents | |
Cumulative capped caseload (up to May 2016) | 12,500 | 6,200 | 1,100 | 600 |
% of which are lone parents | - | 50% | - | 53% |
Point-in-time capped caseload (May 2019) | 2,700 | 1,800 | 600 | 400 |
% of which are lone parents | - | 67% | - | 64% |
Source: DWP benefit cap official statistics up to May 2019, August 2019 publication
Notes:
1) All figures are rounded to the nearest 100 households.
2) Lone parents are defined are single person households with dependent children.
3) For Housing Benefit claimants, the cumulative capped caseload is the number of households that have had their Housing Benefit capped between the introduction of the benefit cap on 15 April 2013 to May 2019.
4) For Universal Credit claimants, the cumulative capped caseload is the number of households that had their Universal Credit capped between October 2016 and May 2019. Universal Credit benefit cap data is only available from October 2016 onwards.
The average weekly cap amount under Housing Benefit for lone parents in Scotland in May 2019 was £60, compared to an average of £55 for all households in Great Britain. We do not currently publish the average cap amount for Universal Credit capped households, by family type, but are planning to publish this information for the first time on the DWP Stat-Xplore portal during the w/c 9th September.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase access to statutory sick pay for low-paid workers.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
On Monday 15th July, the Government launched its consultation: `Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss.’ The consultation invites views on a range of matters including extending Statutory Sick Pay to the lowest paid. It closes on 7 October 2019 and can be found here:
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of recorded workplace deaths in Scotland in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Notifications of workplace fatal injuries to workers are made under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).
The table below provides the number of fatal injuries to workers in Scotland reported under RIDDOR over the last 3 years.
Fatal injuries to workers in Scotland 2016/17 – 2018/19
Year | Number of fatal injuries to workers |
2016/17 | 18 |
2017/18 | 17 |
2018/19 | 29* |
*Data for 2018/19 is provisional.
There has been an increase of 12 deaths between 2017/18 and 2018/19 in Scotland, mostly due to an increase in deaths in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (from 3 in 2017/18 to 13 in 2018/19, though 2017/18 was a particularly low year for fatalities in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector in Scotland).
Numbers from one-year to the next are subject to natural variation. The increase seen in the number of workplace deaths in Scotland in 2018/19 are within bounds of natural variation.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of universal credit on armed forces veterans.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has put in place special arrangements under the Armed Forces Covenant to support veterans and to take account of their needs and circumstances, such as ensuring War Disablement Pensions and guaranteed income payments made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are not taken into account in the assessment of Universal Credit entitlement.
Universal Credit is a tailored service and it is important that we support those claimants, including veterans, who may find the application process for Universal Credit challenging. The Citizens Advice Help to Claim service offers tailored, practical support to help people to make their Universal Credit claim. This service is available online, over the phone and face-to-face, so that claimants can access support in the way that is most suitable for them.
Every Jobcentre Plus District has an Armed Forces Champion who ensures that any concerns and issues raised which affect Service Personnel and their families are integrated within the wider work of Jobcentre Plus. These Armed Forces Champions ensure that Work Coaches and other DWP staff can effectively support serving personnel, service leavers, veterans and their families.